The stage is set for counting of votes in the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentary constituency at the St. Cecily’s School here on Thursday.
The fate of 12 candidates, including Shobha Karandlaje of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Pramod Madhwaraj of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular), P. Parameshwar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, will be decided on Thursday.
There are eight Assembly segments in the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentary constituency.
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They include four each from Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts. The Assembly segments in Udupi district are Kundapur, Udupi, Kaup and Karkala, while those in Chikkamagaluru district are Sringeri, Tarikere, Mudigere and Chikkamagaluru.
Postal ballots would be counted on five different tables.
The rounds of counting would vary according to the size of the Assembly constituencies.
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While the votes of Kaup and Karkala Assembly segments would be counted in 15 rounds, the votes of Kundapur segment would be counted in 16 rounds, Udupi, Mudigere and Tarikere segments — 17 rounds, and Sringeri and Chikkamagaluru Assembly segments — 19 rounds.
Eight Assistant Returning Officers and six Additional Returning Officers would supervise the counting of votes in every room.
A total of 127 counting supervisors, 131 counting assistants, 127 micro observers, 127 Group D employees, and 21 staff for tabulation, would be pressed into service during the counting of votes.
The strong rooms at the counting centre would be opened at 7.30 a.m. on Thursday. The counting of postal ballots would be taken up at 8 a.m., while the counting of votes from EVMs would be taken up at 8.30 a.m.
Deputy Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati, who visited the counting centre here on Wednesday, said that all arrangements had been made for the counting of votes. The guidelines of the Election Commission of India will be followed during the counting of votes.
Votes from the EVMs would be counted first and then, the counting of the slips of the VVPATs, as per the guidelines of the Election Commission, would be taken up. The final results would be declared only after the counting of the slips from the VVPATs was completed, Ms. Korlapati said.